President of America, Not the World

War is like crack for presidents. It confers instant gravitas, catapulting them to respectability, bypassing all station stops. They get to make macho pronouncements on a topic where every utterance is seen as august.

On the other hand, Trump’s Syrian misadventure is immoral, violates every promise he ran on, and could sink his presidency.

Left to his own devices, uncontaminated by Washington group-think, Trump gets it right.

Back in 2013, when President Obama was being egged on to attack Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack far more sweeping than this latest one, Trump tweeted:

— Aug. 29, 2013:

“What will we get for bombing Syria besides more debt and a possible long term conflict? Obama needs Congressional approval.”

— Aug. 31, 2013:

“Be prepared, there is a small chance that our horrendous leadership could unknowingly lead us into World War III.”

— Sept. 1, 2013:

“If the U.S. attacks Syria and hits the wrong targets, killing civilians, there will be worldwide hell to pay. Stay away and fix broken U.S.”

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly stated that he had no interest in starting “World War III over Syria,” saying, “We have bigger problems than Assad.” His policy position was: “Let Syria and ISIS fight. I look at Assad — and Assad looks better than the other side.”

Trump was right on every point.

Assad is one of the least bad leaders in the entire Middle East. He’s not a murderous thug like Saddam, has no rape rooms, isn’t into jihad, protects Christians, and is fighting ISIS. He provided us with intelligence on al-Qaida after 9/11. He does not have crazy Islamic police slapping women around or throwing gays off buildings. (That would be our beloved ally, Saudi Arabia.)

Trump was also correct about Assad’s opponents being far worse, containing large helpings of both ISIS and al-Qaida.

As awful as it was to see those dead children, Trump knew that America’s first duty is to our own children.

We have never succeeded at turning a Third World dictatorship into a paradise. The history of these things is that removing a Middle Eastern strongman always makes things worse — for example, in Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Egypt.

We leap in, thinking we’re helping the poor devils under the thumb of a dictator — and then the new tribe takes over and oppresses everyone else, usually much more brutally, while hating us even more than the old tribe did.

If voters wanted more Middle Eastern wars, there were plenty of other candidates offering that: Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Carly Fiorina, and Hillary Clinton, for example. And we must never forget Jeb! though it proved surprisingly easy to do so in 2016.

But we picked Trump.

While most of the left wailed about the return of Nazi Germany under Trump, savvier liberals saw his vulnerability: flattery. All we have to do is praise him! You’ll be shocked at how easy it is.

And, boy, did they lay it on thick with the Syrian misadventure. No sucker’s bait was left on the floor. Cable news hosts gushed, “Trump became president of the United States tonight!” On MSNBC, Brian Williams called the bombing “beautiful” three times in less than a minute. Sen. Lindsey Graham (one of the “women of the Senate,” according to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg) compared Trump to Reagan. The New York Times headlined an article, “On Syria Attack, Trump’s Heart Came First.”

My nightmare scenario: Trump and Jared watching TV together and high-fiving: DID YOU SEE THE NEWS! THEY LOVE YOU! All Trump had to do was pointlessly bomb another country, and it was as if a genie had granted his every wish.

Looking for some upside to this fiasco, desperate Trump supporters bleated that bombing Assad had sent a message to North Korea. Yes, the message is: The Washington establishment is determined to manipulate the president into launching counterproductive military strikes. Our enemies — both foreign and domestic — would be delighted to see our broken country further weaken itself with pointless wars.

Was America strengthened by the Iraq War? The apparently never-ending Afghanistan War? Vietnam? This is how great powers die, which is exactly what the left wants.

Administration policy was heading in the wrong direction at 90 mph, but thank God, Trump seems to have grabbed the steering wheel and hit the brakes. Notwithstanding the hopes and dreams of Clausewitzian military strategist Nikki Haley, we will not be engaging in regime change in Syria or starting World War III with Russia today.

We want the “president of America” back — not “the president of the world.”

I’m disappointed. I’m angry. I considered washing down the black pill with a bottle of whiskey. I often wonder if the collapse is inevitable. This previous week was proof to me that it doesn’t really matter who’s in office. The collapse might very well happen regardless. Hillary Rotten Clinton would only have gotten us there faster. She was always going to suck worse.

Trump has already claimed that we won’t be going to war with Syria. HRC acted as though she couldn’t wait to get boots on the ground.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. I want to hope. But I’ll always be prepared for the worst. Especially in a world where the U.S. is still behaving as though we have the right to police the world rather than just our own country.

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5 responses

This time we disagree, Bre. It’s been U.S. policy for many decades that the use of weapons of mass destruction will be punished. We don’t want a world in which states can use nukes, gas, or bioweapons when they feel like it…especially a state backed by Vladimir Putin, at this time the most aggressive, imperially minded satrap on Earth.

Trump’s strike does not commit the U.S. to war. But it does inform Putin of the limits to his latitude, and it puts Iran and North Korea on notice that their WMD programs will not elevate them to untouchability.

It’s okay if we disagree. I don’t want to be in an echo chamber of my own thoughts or ideas. 😉
I do however admire certain things (not all) but certain things about Putin and don’t think he’s a monster like most people. I don’t approve of foreign interference and I think this gas attack more than likely a false flag and more than likely done by the rebels. The U.N. knew so back in 2013 when the rebels were at fault over 50 times but said nothing.

Seems as though the venerable, all-knowing “Alt-Right” is abandoning Trump, and so quickly at that. Just join Code Pink and get it over with. The train has barely left the station, and already whining and asking for a refund. Our President is not operating in a vacuum and the world stage is NOT for faint-of-heart emasculated weenie-boys like Prez 0bie, who was used as a tool by some of the worst of world leaders and, might I say, at our expense. Maybe some don’t like the “big stick” part of speaking softly, well tough shit. But even if you decide NOT to carry it, it is still there. And you can try to forget we own it WHILE speaking softly, still, everyone knows it’s there. Always negotiate from a position of strength — I didn’t say we have to LIKE it, but we have to do it. America, remember? The message was basically sent to the other rather dubious world leaders, like the Mullah in Iran, the wacko-boy in NK, as well as China and Russia and anyone else I missed, that we’re still pretty good with our stick if need be. One of our President’s campaign promises was “peace through strength” and so far, we have nothing to be disappointed about. I and many others don’t like our interference in this, but I do know that a bomb blast MIGHT NOT get you, but chemicals?… you CAN”T HIDE from chemicals. Someone who may have had a chance to live otherwise didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in HELL. It doesn’t matter after all which guilty party used them (duh, fixed-wing aircraft) the message was sent — AND received I might add. Over the course of his term, President Trump is going to do or say some MORE things I will disagree with, or even dislike. Not every pitch is a strike, not every pass is a touchdown. An incompletion can set the table for a completion later. But I refuse to abandon my belief in our President. Trump will do more for American in his first year than the previous two presidents combined. So either you back him, or you don’t. If you’re going to pick apart his decisions and actions then fine, but turn you back on the man while he is just getting started? To me and my humblest of opinions, you could not have really been with him from the start. It’s going to take a LOT more for me to abandon him. He’s in the arena, not me.

I will be critical of his mistakes. This was a huge mistake. Being critical is not weakness. This with us or against us motif isn’t an argument. And never will be. Watch Stefan Molyneux’s material on Syria for more clarification on why this is a problem to so many people. And this whole “you’re either with us or with the terrorist” thing is exactly why the Alt Right exists and will continue to gain more followers.

You still ROCK, Bre. You read all that into what I said. So, I’ll just say I can’t allow myself to do a PJW style off-the-Trump-train, stompy-feet, lip curled pout (not you either, I understand that). I don’t agree with Ivanka being in Cabinet, or Jared for that matter. I don’t agree with a lot of things. Trump likes to listen to different views, to hear all sides, ponder briefly before making decisions. I didn’t like or understand the missiles, but I (me) I refuse to condemn him for this particular one (ex-military here). He could have done lots worse. It would be interesting to know who indeed he was listening to. (I don’t think Bannon likes this). He remains my President. We shouldn’t be the world’s police, but some of our allies, like Japan, still depend on our deterrence and some actual protection. The loon in NK is scaring some folks around there, and I’m waiting to see just what our move if any will be. While hopefully, it’s none I will still haveTrump’s back irrespective of his move. I’m getting too wordy again so I’ll just say IF Trump wears brown socks with a blue suit, I’m done!!!